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<blockquote data-quote="Jester David" data-source="post: 6994479" data-attributes="member: 37579">Strahd, like most 5e vampires, are a little weak. IIRC he has the hit points of a CR 8 creature. Which can work if you're not built to fight vampires, but for the climax of Curse of Strahd and against a party equipped especially for fighting him, he's going to down like a chump.First, I'd have an NPC of the party point out that if Strahd is &quot;defeated&quot; he'll return to his coffin. So facing him early just means weakening the party before they explore the rest of the castle. And next time, he'll know what abilities they have and how they'll attack. Second, if they do attack, Strahd uses a body double. He sits invisible and hidden in the shadows of the chapel while a vampire mook dressed in his robe takes the hits from him for a round, while he positions himself behind the party. The party wastes their big guns on the mook then Strahd moves in for the kills. And likely gets facerolled. But it's *slightly* more memorable. As another option, this could be the villain meeting. The parlay. If you think the party has not interacted with Strahd directly nearly enough, then it just so happens to be a holy day and the chapel is filled with a strange holy energy, that acts as a calm emotions. Strahd says he will not attack if they don't and offers a temporary truce for 10 minutes (or so). He offers them one last chance to join him or die, or tempts members of the party with life eternal. If they refuse, he politely tells them they parlay is over, the next time they meet he will kill them, and then mists away.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Jester David, post: 6994479, member: 37579"] Strahd, like most 5e vampires, are a little weak. IIRC he has the hit points of a CR 8 creature. Which can work if you're not built to fight vampires, but for the climax of [i]Curse of Strahd[/i] and against a party equipped especially for fighting him, he's going to down like a chump. First, I'd have an NPC of the party point out that if Strahd is "defeated" he'll return to his coffin. So facing him early just means weakening the party before they explore the rest of the castle. And next time, he'll know what abilities they have and how they'll attack. Second, if they do attack, Strahd uses a body double. He sits invisible and hidden in the shadows of the chapel while a vampire mook dressed in his robe takes the hits from him for a round, while he positions himself behind the party. The party wastes their big guns on the mook then Strahd moves in for the kills. And likely gets facerolled. But it's *slightly* more memorable. As another option, this could be the villain meeting. The parlay. If you think the party has not interacted with Strahd directly nearly enough, then it just so happens to be a holy day and the chapel is filled with a strange holy energy, that acts as a [i]calm emotions[/i]. Strahd says he will not attack if they don't and offers a temporary truce for 10 minutes (or so). He offers them one last chance to join him or die, or tempts members of the party with life eternal. If they refuse, he politely tells them they parlay is over, the next time they meet he will kill them, and then mists away. [/QUOTE]

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